But it almost certainly played a contributing part.

Dax linked to a Treehouse post about Trump’s EOs, and one of the commenters had something to say about the air traffic controller situation, which echoes several other commenters I’ve read in the last two days, who claim to be cognizant of the hiring situation (I think he was actually referring to a tweet by @BillAckman, but the formatting was not clear to me). As in this one, most of them first discuss the conditions surrounding the accident, then add something similar to this about DEI; the writer also speaks indirectly about the same thing you did on the value of Trump seizing the narrative first:

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/01/31/president-trump-signs-executive-orders-and-delivers-remarks-to-media-from-oval-office/#comment-11518968

I spent about 45 minutes on a call with a former Blackhawk pilot who is currently a pilot for a major carrier. His assessment is that the crash was likely due to a cascading series of errors in part due to inadequate disclosure from the Tower about the location and altitude of the regional aircraft compounded by inadequate staffing in the Tower, and the diminished situational awareness of the pilot of the Blackhawk due to the use of night vision goggles.
…
While he generally believes that Air Traffic Control does ‘a great job,’ he also expressed agreement with @realDonaldTrump in how DEI has injected itself into ATC and in pilot recruitment.

He gave examples of having to take over the controls within moments of landing to avoid a crash landing when a co-pilot with inadequate experience, training and capabilities was too quickly advanced into the cockpit to meet DEI goals. He also said the pilot shortage is real and we need to recruit more candidates.

All of the above create a real opportunity for change in U.S. aviation in the Trump administration and speak to the importance of the selection of new leadership for the FAA and a focus on excellence and meritocracy rather than meeting quota goals.

I have always believed that good comes from the bad. Let’s not let the 67 souls who lost their lives die in vain. Let’s make sure this tragedy is a catalyst for important and rapid improvements in US aviation.

Among the other things that make the Soviet system bad, as J.J. describes, this is the one that bugs me.
The idea that trade careers don’t require smart people is baloney.
Stupid people trying to do complex mechanical work, or even modern farming, can screw up a country’s infrastructure pretty fast.
Or destroy their alleged mighty military, to get back to the Soviets.

When I was teaching computer programming, some of my brightest (IOW most capable) students were taking the class as an elective outside of their trade requirements (Utah Technical College didn’t make any secret of its priorities).
They could easily have competed in programming alongside the students in my classes at Rice University.

I want my plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, and construction contractors to be smart – which does not mean they have to be able to analyze modern poetry (e.e. cummings was a recent example from huxley) or think great thoughts about foreign policy.

Most of the tradespeople I’ve known have a better grasp of basic economics than the degreed idiots in Congress.

I hold with Orwell on this one: “One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.”

Of course, there is more to story of the quote, but it is Orwell’s own words.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/03/03/believe-fool/

In one way, it seems to make sense. Match people’s abilities and talents up with careers. However, the other part of the equation, equal pay and benefits for all (which was the Communist goal), tends to backfire because some humans are more ambitious and have better work ethics than others. When the slackers and deadbeats get paid just like the hard workers, eventually everyone slows down. Remember the old saying from the USSR: “We pretend to work, while they pretend to pay us.” That, and the failure of centralized planning, is why the USSR economy collapsed.

We need to do a better job of helping young people discover their abilities, talents, interests, and opportunities. We do a great job for athletes. Our schools have become training grounds for professional athletes. Doctors and engineers, not so much. Maybe we need more doctor TV shows like in the old days – Dr. Kildare and Doogie Howser MD. Make medicine an exciting career choice.

When I was in school, way back in the 1940s, we had aptitude testing, counseling, and presentations by local professionals – a doctor, a dentist, an engineer, a policeman, a grocery store owner, a National Park Service ranger, etc. My plan was to be a ranger, but trained in college as a geologist, then enlisted in the Navy to avoid being drafted, and was sent to flight training because the Navy needed 2000 pilots in a hurry. In flight training I discovered I had an aptitude for flying and I loved the challenge of it. So, my path was guided by accidental circumstances that worked out. I look back and am thankful for those quirks of fate.

“FOLLOW THE MONEY:”—
https://instapundit.com/699824/

The Democratic Party is essentially Scammers Central.

Plus…some constructive advice from Shipwreckedcrew:

https://instapundit.com/699797/

And then there’s this from Ms. “Gotta Fortify them Elections” herself…
https://x.com/MZHemingway/status/1885165158315577487
H/T Instapundit.

Seems like the taxi scene outta Bruce Willis’ The Fifth Element – amazing we don’t have more accidents around busy airports like that.

Here’s a pic that might help you link the link and article/video together – Basic HTML code.

Potomac Mid Air UPDATE 1/30/25 – put the link between the “” quote marks, and replace SAMPLE SAMPLE with the article/video title (or whatever you want it to be)…

https://youtu.be/_3gD_lnBNu0

Sorry, I have not learned to put a link in Neo’s blog, so it is necessary to cut and paste.

The analysis has the voice comms and flight tracks depicted on a chart. I don’t know how they get their information, but this site does an amazing job of analyzing aircraft mishaps.

The helo was on a published ‘helo route’ that carried it past Reagan airport, on the far (east) side of the Potomac River. The problem is that when DCA is using runway 33 for landings, as they were, approach traffic can overfly the helo route with only about 100 feet vertical separation. One hundred feet is madness.

If helo route 1 is allowed during landings on runway 33 of Reagan airport, extreme care is warranted.

The RJ was diverted from runway 1 to runway 33, which was not inappropriate. The winds were very strong from the northwest. Operationally, this allowed a faster pace, because departing aircraft could taxi onto the longer runway 1 and be prepared for immediate take off as soon as other aircraft on approach-landing on 33 had cleared the runway intersection. This is a common situation at many airports. Boston, New York La Guardia, San Francisco come readily to mind. But, the potential conflict with the helo route was significant. The helo route should have been shut down, or closely monitored.
If you listen to the voice, the controller was quite busy. As is typical at airports like DCA at traffic peak, there is hardly time to squeeze in an extra transmission. The helo asked to maintain his own separation visually, and I am sure that the controller was only too happy to shed that responsibility.
Tower manning was certainly an issue as indicated, because the helo route required close monitoring with with runway 33 active.

If the RJ were in a left turn, the chances of seeing the helo low on its right side were miniscule; besides which their focus would be entirely on the approach at that point. The RJ crew appear to be faultless.
Speculation is that when the helo pilot reported visual contact with the RJ, the focus was on another aircraft in the line of aircraft for the approach.

Notwithstanding any other factors, it is widely reported that the collision occurred at an altitude of 300 ft, so it is assumed that the RJ was on a normal vertical profile and that the helo deviated from its altitude restriction at a most critical moment. It may also be true that the helo deviated laterally from the approved track which requires hugging the eastern shoreline of the river.

I assume that the military Blackhawk had neither a cockpit voice recorder nor a flight data recorder, so there will be no answers as to what was occurring in that aircraft. However, I am very out of date and would be pleased to learn that I am mistaken in that assumption.

Leftists pounced on this crash and were quick to blame Trump’s funding ‘freeze’. That’s absurd, but it takes more than a 30 second sound bite or a 160 character tweet to say why it’s absurd. Too long. That’s delving into ‘explaining’. And we all know: ‘when you’re explaining, you’re losing.’

Trump is more attuned to this than any Republican in a generation (Newt Gingrich would be the only politician I can think of who even comes close). And so, he responded not by ‘explaining’, but by making a counter accusation: brief, bold and provocative. It changed the dynamic, leading the chattering classes to, as always, spill gallons of ink over how awful and offensive Trump’s comments were. But the point is: Trump remained on offense.

Then Vance followed up with a more nuanced and detailed discussion, ehuch is exactly what we should expect. Bold, provocative, brief declaration first; detailed discussion later.

And in the end, much as I hate DEI, it probably didn’t play any significant role in this tragedy. But that’s a side point. You have to hit back hard, quickly and clearly. That’s what Trump did

*whose replacements are actually currently in the city that you were going to fly to!

JJ: glad we have the experience and expertise of yourself and a few others here to help us gage the reality of this particular accident (including the need to wait for real info) and the industry situation in general.